sustain:if:able kiwi

listening

I was so busy thinking about listening today,
that I forgot to listen.

the day my wife left me

I finished the final edit of my PhD here, this time a year ago. (Thanks Tim for the place and the pic!)

My wife drove me there, muttered something about love and not returning until I finished, and left me. No car. No phone. No internet. Just the view and a final draft to edit.

I started my PhD with the basic question; how missionally effective is the emerging church. I wanted to explore this both in relation to the church and the culture.

These new forms of church; how do they relate to church over the last 2000 years; these new imaged based ways of worship; how do they shape our faith; postmodernity; and how are we using the culture?

I’ve had 21 requests to buy it … the offer remains open to 24th September …

(more…)

my colour today is yellow

The weather this week has been appalling. Freezing cold, rainy and wind. The drive is muddy and we have to carry the kids to the car. Everywhere is damp and cold.

On Tuesday I ordered a new, bright, yellow, corflute signboard for the church. It went up yesterday. Bright, cheery, springtime yellow.

Christians are people of hope, who follow a springtime Jesus. Today my colour is yellow.

what colour is God today?

from here

I have had an increasing awareness of the place of colour in spirituality. Today I leafed through some colour charts on the kitchen table.

Shallow Water; Pale Citrus: a sense of calm and a hint of warmth.

this is what I need from God for today.

some mondays are hard

This was me catching some space with God on Monday …

probing my gift mix

The last week has been busy. It has had a mix of joy and ho humm. Since I am made in the image of God, uniquely configured, it is interesting to step back and see what has energised me, and what does not energise me.

I have been organising a gathering for emerging practioners called converse – 3 days to step aside and reflect together on mission and ministry. Energising? NIL.

I have been in conversation with Andrew. He found my paper on postmodern monasteries. He’s been dreaming for a while about turning an abandoned vicarage into a monastery. He lives about 80 kilometres away and is just about to put the proposal to his vestry. Using the internet, he’s found a fellow dreamer and we meet for coffee this week. Energising? TOTALLY.

I am doing a first run on a new course onpreaching and teaching in postmodernity. Alongside students, I have about 15 outsiders, local pastors, joining us for “in-service” training. A chance to talk about imagination and culture and community in the context of Christian communication. Energising? TOTALLY.

Not sure what to make of this in terms of where I put my future energy, but some insights to ponder further.

How do we go deep?

We live in a very surface culture. The blog world is instant. There is huge pressure to produce. Maggi Dawn touched on this in a recent post. Yesterdays post is old news. There is a constant thirst for new technology.

A few weeks ago I got some space to write. I should have been listening to a conference. But I took my laptop, found a good view, plugged in my music, and wrote a journal article; “Co-authoring Christianity.” Immersed, I suddenly realised I was deeply, deeply happy. “When I write, I feel God’s pleasure.”

Yesterday, I was preparing for a paper. I was deep in a commentary, exploring Genesis 18. Immersed, I suddenly realised I was deeply, deeply, happy. “When I research, I feel God’s pleasure.”

Now, researching and writing don’t make for instant blogging. It takes time for ideas to emerge. It takes time to do the research. It takes time to publish.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my blog. It is the place where you can skim across my surface, see the worship result of a week of wrestle and struggle with a text or an idea. Yet I know that for me, the pressure to produce, the blogging surface, needs to be matched by the time to go deep.

There is a breathless, headlong feeding rush in the emerging church. What drives this? Desire for another new toy to play with? Boredom with the hard yards of the here and now? Missionary excitement?

How do we go deep in our surface world? Am I alone in this?

textures of spirituality

I am a Protestant. So the Bible has been part of my spirituality. I normally use the lectionary readings; a psalm and a gospel, daily, as part of being centred and attentive to God. The Bible, you see is intrinsic to my spirituality.

Confession time.
Not sure if I should blog this, but you see,
well,
I forgot to take my Bible on holiday.

We had driven 45 minutes when Lynne looks at me and notes that we have no Bible. The Protestant in my paniced. Not sure what the Protestant in you is thinking. 45 minutes, with 2 kids in the car. Too far to go back.

During the rest of the drive, I noticed the detail, the fine patterning of the back on bare maples.

Embolded by Jesus words in Matthew; Consider the lilies of the field, I sensed that the spiritual task of the holiday was to “notice the detail”; the textures of snow, the patterns and colours of bark, exploring the backroads of Geraldine, the cooking of my children.

Today I returned to this;
I have no need for [offerings]
for every animal of the forest is mine
and the cattle on the thousand hills
– Psalm 50:9-10.

A [Biblical] reminder that God is not just in text, but also in the textures of all creation.

braking b4 breaking

you take breaks, or the breaks will take you,
either way you will take breaks

So I am braking here for a few days.

the third way of consumption

“When we see the relationship between the Eucharist and the food economy we remind ourselves of the connection between our own consumption of food and global ecological and justice issues … But when the local worshipping communities reconnect the Eucharist with ecological justice and the food economy … they give visible shape to the good news that the trouncing of the powers that threaten life on earth is not only a past event but one that is constantly breaking into our present reality.”
quote from most excellent Third Way magazine

consuming the body

Jesus took bread. Food. Stuff from the earth.

Take, eat, this is my body.

And in so doing, Jesus linking our eating with our spirituality.

What we eat shapes our faith.

Ben Witherington has a fascinating perspective on 1 Corinthians 11. He argues that Corinth is a divided body. The rich eat first. The poor eat little. So when Paul suggests that those who eat the bread and the drink the wine in an unworthy manner sin against the body, Paul is linking eating and a spirituality of justice, that if we eat in way that keeps the poor hungry, then we are sinning.

This is not about our inner relationship with God, this is about what and how we consume.

The kiwi~mission~diet is not just about money for mission. It is a way for us to ask ourselves; how can we eat justly? how can we consume without harming the worldwide body of Christ?

foreign exchange dealing

There has been some good discussion around the kiwi~mission~diet. I live in New Zealand, so my figures for food costs are obviously New Zealand dollars. Tammy commented, asking how this might translate in her currency.

Can any of my blog readers
a) take the kiwi~mission~budget shopping list, and price it in their currency
b) ring a budgetting agency and find out what the average person spends on food.

I would appreciate such information.

kiwi~mission~diet#c

and here are the recipes for $4 per person per day.

(more…)

kiwi~mission~diet#b

The kiwi~mission~diet is simply an spirituality exercise that invites each of us to reflect on our lifestyles and timestyles. It is a creative starting point and if it doesn’t work for you, fire me your alternative suggestion.

Below is the shopping list. Tomorrow I will post the recipes.

SHOPPING LIST (prices in New Zealand dollars to feed a family of 2 adults and 2 children = $118 ie 4 X $28)
Apples or Pears $1.99

(more…)